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Thailand’s Immigration to Tighten Visa Extension Rules

Immigration to Tighten Visa Extension Rules

Thailand’s Immigration Bureau has apprehended two suspected Chinese and Korean swindlers, the latter of whom is wanted by Interpol, as well as a Korean call centre gang, all of whom were discovered to have overstayed their visas, among other offences.

The Chinese suspect, Ter, 49, was wanted by the Chinese government for defrauding at least 7,000 people out of at least 6 billion baht. Thai authorities also issued a warrant for his arrest for illegally registering a business. He was later released on bail by the Pattaya Police Station.

In 2014, Mr. Ter illegally registered a company called Jiahe in China and allegedly duped people into participating in his investment scam. He evaded arrest in his home country and arrived in Thailand in 2021, through the Thailand Elite Privilege Card.

After receiving a report from an investigation team, authorities arrested Mr Ter at the Chaeng Watthana Government Complex last month.

Meanwhile, the suspected Korean swindler was apprehended after Interpol issued a red notice.

The suspect, identified only as Mr. Yejun, 51, was accused of defrauding dozens of people and acquiring property worth at least 1 billion baht. He arrived in Thailand in August on a tourist visa exemption for 90 days, which expired in November.

The Immigration Bureau also arrested members of a Korean call centre gang based in Chiang Mai, which amassed 50 million baht in phone scams. they too overstayed their visa’s.

The gang, which consisted of five suspects, was previously based in China. They were apprehended in Thailand on Wednesday as a result of the South Korean embassy’s assistance. According to the Immigration, the gang has defrauded at least 30,000 people.

Thailand's Immigration to Tighten Visa Extension Rules

Allegations of kickbacks to Immigration Officials

The Immigration Bureau’s chief said on Thursday that the agency will tighten visa extension rules to prevent foreign criminals from establishing businesses in the country.

Pol Lt Gen Pakpoompipat Sajjapan was responding to former politician Chuwit Kamolvisit’s allegations that three former senior immigration police officers took bribes to approve longer stays for over 3,000 Chinese nationals, many of whom were involved in illegal business activities.

He claimed that the bureau had been strict about visa approvals in the previous year because it was concerned that foreign criminals might exploit loopholes in existing rules, or that some immigration officers might be lax in checking some foreigners’ documents.

“As a result, a working group will be formed to revise rules on visa extension applications that cite work for foundations, the need for medical treatment, and the need to study in both the formal and informal educational systems,” Pol Lt Gen Pakpoompipat explained.

According to Mr Chuwit, some foreigners as old as 50 were granted student visas. In this case, the immigration chief stated that the bureau’s system would be revised.

However, he questioned whether age restrictions on student visas should be imposed in accordance with “the concept of lifelong learning.”

“Foreigners with student visas in Thailand must have certificates from educational institutions.” As a result, educational institutions must do this correctly.

Thailand's Immigration to Tighten Visa Extension Rules

Chinese nationals running grey businesses in Thailand

The Immigration bureau’s regulations are already comprehensive, but all other organizations involved in foreigners’ visa extensions must work closely together,” said Pol Lt Gen Pakpoompipat.

He stated that Immigration Division 5 requested that local schools submit quarterly reports on the educational outcomes of foreign students with student visas. In the absence of such reports, their visas would be revoked, and the foreigners would be required to leave the country, he said.

Similarly, foundations with foreign staff must report on a regular basis on the activities of those foreigners.

“We did this before the issue became public,” Pol Lt Gen Pakpoompipat explained.

Mr Chuwit claims that a Chinese law firm was established in Thailand to assist Chinese nationals who arrived on 30-day tourist visas, and that a Khon Kaen-based foundation was also involved in the visa-extension racket.

The former politician and massage parlour tycoon who exposed “grey businesses” run by Chinese triads in Thailand, is entitled to a reward of 5% of the assets confiscated from the gangsters, according to Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin on Thursday.

The minister praised Mr Chuwit for his bravery in providing information to the ministry about the alleged financial activities of major drug networks.

Mr Somsak described him as a good citizen who would be rewarded with 5% of the assets seized from Chinese nationals operating illegal businesses.

For example, if the seized assets were worth approximately 2 billion baht, Mr Chuwit would receive a cash reward of approximately 100 million baht, according to the minister.

According to Mr Somsak, authorities have confiscated assets worth 6,879 million baht from those involved in the illegal drug trade over the last two months.

immigration scam

Chuwit says give money to hospitals

The minister was speaking at a meeting with representatives from 11 state agencies to discuss collaboration and understanding in the seizure of assets from drug traffickers.

Mr. Chuwit, according to the KomChadLuek media outlet, stated that he did not want the reward. Instead, he would direct that the funds be directed to hospitals.

Mr. Chuwit went to the Justice Ministry last month and submitted documents and other information about alleged Chinese triad financial activities in Thailand.

He had previously claimed that after police raided a pub frequented primarily by Chinese nationals in Bangkok’s Yannawa district in late October, a triad boss known as “Mr Tuhao” fled the country on a private jet with the assistance of some state officials.

Small amounts of illegal drugs were discovered on the premises, and a large number of customers tested positive for drug use.

The outspoken former politician had requested that the ministry’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI) investigate the matter and seize the triads’ illegal assets.

Tuhao, Chaiyanat Kornchayanant, later turned himself in to police on November 23 after the Bangkok South Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for his alleged involvement in the drug trade. He denied all of the charges, but the court denied him bail because he was a flight risk.

Following that, police raided numerous locations throughout Greater Bangkok, including a luxury housing project in Samut Prakan, where the majority of units were discovered to have been purchased through Thai nominees with suspected ties to Mr. Chaiyanat.

Mr Chuwit also handed over documents detailing Mr. Chaiyanat’s and other Chinese nationals’ financial activities to Deputy National Police Chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn.

He claimed on Wednesday that three former Immigration Bureau division commanders took bribes in exchange for approving applications for non-immigrant visas for at least 3,325 Chinese nationals who entered Thailand as tourists and stayed.

Mr. Chuwit stated that the fees ranged from 100,000 to 300,000 baht per visa.

 

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

Google

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

google

Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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2024 | Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

trump

Washington — Trump Media,  The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear an appeal from social media platform X about a search warrant acquired by prosecutors in the election meddling case against former President Donald Trump.

The justices did not explain their rationale, and there were no recorded dissents.

The firm, which was known as Twitter before being purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, claims a nondisclosure order that prevented it from informing Trump about the warrant obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights.

The business also claims Trump should have had an opportunity to exercise executive privilege. If not reined in, the government may employ similar tactics to intercept additional privileged communications, their lawyers contended.

trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

Two neutral electronic privacy groups also joined in, urging the high court to hear the case on First Amendment grounds.

Prosecutors, however, claim that the corporation never shown that Trump utilized the account for official purposes, therefore executive privilege is not a problem. A lower court also determined that informing Trump could have compromised the current probe.

trump

Trump utilized his Twitter account in the weeks preceding up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to spread false assertions about the election, which prosecutors claim were intended to create doubt in the democratic process.

The indictment describes how Trump used his Twitter account to encourage his followers to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification, and falsely claiming that the Capitol crowd, which battered police officers and destroyed glass, was peaceful.

musk trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

That case is now moving forward following the Supreme Court’s verdict in July, which granted Trump full immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.

The warrant arrived at Twitter amid quick changes implemented by Musk, who bought the company in 2022 and has since cut off most of its workforce, including those dedicated to combating disinformation and hate speech.

He also welcomed back a vast list of previously banned users, including Trump, and endorsed him for the 2024 presidential election.

SOURCE | AP

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

Supreme Court

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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Could Last-Minute Surprises Derail Kamala Harris’ Campaign? “Nostradamus” Explains the US Poll.

Scientists Awarded MicroRNA The Nobel Prize in Medicine.

US Inflation will Comfort a Fed Focused on Labor Markets.

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